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Border arbitration between Croatia, Slovenia suspends

Xinhua, July 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic on Tuesday sent a letter to his Slovenian counterpart Miro Cerar, saying the arbitration on the border between the two counties could not continue because of the lobbying scandal.

As a response to the letter from Cerar Monday, Milanovic said: "The credibility and integrity of the arbitration procedure as a whole has been undermined to such an extent that Croatia does not believe the arbitration process can continue in this or similar form."

Croatia was willing to seek to solve border dispute in accordance with international law, he said, adding good neighbourly relations between the two countries should continue to develop in spite of this incident.

In his letter, Cerar called for tolerance in the current situation, saying Croatia would not withdraw from the arbitration and that Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague will continue its work until the final ruling is adopted.

Vesna Crnic Grotic, Croatian university law professor, said that Croatia could unilaterally terminate the arbitration agreement according to article 60 of Vienna Convention on the Law or Treaties which proscribes that if contract was breached by one side in the process, another side could terminate the contract.

Davorin Lapas, also an university law professor, said that Croatia would have to send a notification to Slovenia to explain the situation and its position.

Slovenia claims at least 66 percent or more of the Piran gulf, located on the Adriatic Sea, while Croatia claims 50 percent for itself.

In 2009, the two countries signed an arbitration agreement, agreeing to resolve their territorial dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Croatia and Slovenia started a case before the court in June 2014. Endit